Editorial: Don't rob from tobacco prevention

Tobacco-settlement money and a steep cigarette tax have helped New York fund incredibly effective anti-smoking public-education campaigns, which laudably have led to a dramatic reduction in smoking.

But this tremendous headway and public-health success are jeopardized by a sense of complacency - and anti-smoking programs have been a target in tight budgets. The funding for the state's Tobacco Control Program has been cut in half from $85 million in 2007 to about $41.4 million this year.

The program helps smokers quit and funds smoking-cessation campaigns; it funds frightening TV ads and a hotline for smokers who want to quit.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a defensible idea to consolidate 89 health awareness and prevention programs into three. Consolidation as a means to streamline administrative costs is certainly a good thing, but not if it is merely a way to cut the tobacco-education budget in a less obvious way.

The tobacco-settlement money and cigarette taxes already are absorbed into the state budget before money is parceled out for specific programs - the result being, of course, that billions that were supposed to be directed toward smoking cessation and prevention are used in the general budget. On top of that, New York's cigarette tax is the highest in the nation: $4.35 per pack of cigarettes.

New York spends about $40 million of the annual $2.3 billion it receives from the tobacco settlement and from cigarette taxes on tobacco-prevention programs. That amount is far too low. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that based on its population, New York should be spending $254 million on cessation efforts - a large but far from unreasonable amount given the cigarette tax and the settlement money.

Not investing as heavily in anti-smoking programs guarantees a higher percentage of people will continue to smoke - and worse, teenagers who will start to smoke. Since the creation of the Tobacco Control Program in 2000, the smoking rate among young adults has declined from about 27 percent to 12.6 percent. What's more, investing in smoking prevention ultimately will save New York considerable sums of money in health-care costs.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable disease and death in the state. Smoking-prevention programs work, save money in the long run - and save many from premature death. The Legislature should steer more money into anti-tobacco efforts and reject that part of the governor's plans here.

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Editorial: Don't rob from tobacco prevention

Tobacco-settlement money and a steep cigarette tax have helped New York fund incredibly effective anti-smoking public-education campaigns, which laudably have led to a dramatic reduction in smoking.